Martin Luther King Jr.: From Montgomery to Memphis: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A documentary short with the title Martin Luther King Jr.: From Montgomery to Memphis. It consists of a single reel of black-and-white 16mm polyester film with optical sound.

Through archival footage, the documentary provides an overview of Dr. Martin Luther King's contributions to the civil rights movement. In the opening scene, the narrator describes Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger before cutting to archival footage of Dr. King on camera describing the Montgomery bus boycott. Some of the other events depicted include footage of the boycott, including footage of carpools and people walking, as well as commentary on Dr. King's house being bombed because of the boycott; Dr. King's arrest because of his role in the boycott; footage of Dr. King speaking at a victory meeting following the Supreme Court's ruling to desegregate the bus system in Alabama; development of the students non-violent committee; footage of his "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial; footage of nonviolence resistance training; his work in other parts of the USA, such as Albany and Georgia; commentary on his role in the garbage collectors’ strike; footage of the Selma to Montgomery march; Dr. King's work in Northern cities such as New York and Chicago where his activism shifted to housing, employment and poverty in black communities, as well as the resultant white backlash he faced in the North; and commentary on Dr. King denouncing the Vietnam war. The final scenes include footage of Dr. King's last speech, given the night before he was assassinated, as well as footage from his funeral procession.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1969
• Directed by: Dan McCarroll
• Subject of: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., American, 1929 - 1968
• Subject of: Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, American, 1926 - 1990
• Owned by: D.C. Public Library, American, founded 1896
• Type: black-and-white films (visual works)
• Type: short subjects
• Type: 16mm (photographic film size)
• Medium: polyester film
• Dimensions: Duration: 22 Minutes
• Dimensions: Length (Film): 800 Feet
• Place used: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Documentary films
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Men
• Topic: Police brutality
• Topic: Race riots
• Object number: 2017.55.51.1a
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Transferred from the DC Public Library
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.